Fairfax County Police Watch: US Inquiry May Order Albuquerque Police Oversight

The U.S. Department of Justice is set to release its report Thursday on the troubled Albuquerque Police Department and could mandate federal oversight and reforms costing the city millions of dollars, steps it's required of other law enforcement agencies it's scrutinized.

The announcement will follow a more than yearlong investigation into possible civil rights violations and excessive use of force by Albuquerque officers. Complaints from local advocacy groups helped launch the inquiry.

If a monitor is appointed, Albuquerque would join cities including Detroit, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Seattle that are subject to federal oversight.

The Albuquerque Police Department has faced intense criticism for 37 shootings by officers since 2010 — more than 20 of them deadly.

Federal officials have released few details of the Albuquerque investigation but conducted hundreds of interviews with officials and residents.

Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry has asked the federal agency to expedite its review and aid in reforms. His request followed a violent protest last month of the fatal shooting of a homeless man who had threatened to kill officers. He was gathering his belongings and turning away when officers opened fire, helmet camera video showed.

Scrutiny of the Albuquerque force is one of 15 investigations of police departments launched during President Barack Obama's first term.

In 2010, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu asked the Justice Department to conduct an investigation into allegations of constitutional violations, corruption and discriminatory policies in the city's police department. The federal agency proposed a consent decree — a legally binding document in which a city promises to adhere to and maintain whatever reforms the Justice Department orders.

The cost of instituting the city's consent decree was estimated at about $55 million over five years.

In 2012, federal officials found Portland, Ore., police engaged in a pattern of excessive force against people with mental illnesses. Federal investigators and the city reached a settlement calling for changes to police policies on use of force, stun guns, training, discipline and oversight. It also called for restructuring police crisis intervention training and faster internal inquiries into cases of police misconduct.

The Portland reforms were estimated to cost $3 million to $5 million a year.

In Albuquerque, officials said this week that they welcomed the Justice Department announcement and were prepared to negotiate with federal officials over a possible monitor.

"As the Albuquerque Police Department has done for the past several years, we will continue to work cooperatively with the DOJ in order to implement the best practices for our community," Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden said in a statement.

Morrogh finds cop he doesn’t love. In other news, hell freezes.

Probe of fatal police shooting goes to federal authorities

By Justin Jouvenal/Post

The Fairfax County prosecutor has turned over the investigation of a fatal police shooting of an unarmed Springfield man to federal authorities, citing complications with the five-month-old case.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh said the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia has agreed to continue the probe into the death of 46-year-old John Geer, who was shot during a standoff with Fairfax County police in August. No one has been charged in the incident.

“There is a conflict of interest that has arisen in the case,” Morrogh said Thursday. “And there is a second potential conflict of interest that has arisen out of my office. . . . This is the prudent thing to do.”

Morrogh declined to describe the nature of the conflicts because the investigation is ongoing. The U.S. attorney’s office said Thursday that it could not confirm or deny any investigation or comment on pending investigations.

Police went to Geer’s Pebble Brook Court home on Aug. 29 because of a report of a domestic disturbance. Geer’s father, Don Geer, said his son was upset because his girlfriend, the mother of his two children, had decided to leave him.

John Geer had thrown his girlfriend’s belongings in the front yard. She called police and told them that Geer had a firearm. Police said they tried for about 50 minutes to persuade Geer to leave the home, but he refused.

Don Geer said he watched the climax of the encounter. He said that he could not hear what officers were saying to his son but that he saw him standing with empty hands resting on top of a screen door at the home’s entrance.

At some point, John Geer began to slowly lower his hands and an officer opened fire, hitting Geer in the chest, his father said. Geer retreated inside and closed the door. A SWAT team eventually entered the home and found Geer dead.

Don Geer said detectives later told him that his son did not have a gun on him at the time of the shooting but that there was a holstered handgun a couple of steps from the front door.

Don Geer said it appeared to him that the shooting was unjustified, but he was unsure what to make of the probe being turned over to federal authorities.

“I don’t know whether that’s good or bad — if I had a better idea of why they are doing it, I could form an opinion,” he said.

Geer and friends of his son have been critical of how long the investigation has taken, but Morrogh said police and prosecutors were working to explore all the evidence. He did not think federal prosecutors would have to start from scratch.

“No one wants these things to linger on,” Morrogh said.

Our ink will outlast his career

Under the reign of former Chief of Police Rhorer the Fairfax County Police arrested a man for not wearing clothes in his house while he made coffee, set up an eye doctor on a gambling charge and then used the SWAT team to kill him. An investigation into the charge that the Doctor’s primary clients were cops has never been investigated. The police gunned down an emotionally unstable man because cop who shot him wrongly assumed the man was trying to escape. He wasn’t. The cops also shot dead four other citizens under highly questionable circumstances. The department under Rhorer was sued multiple times by citizens. So did they fire Rhorer? Naw they promoted him. According to news reports Rhorer draws a salary of $191,168 per year as Deputy Fairfax County Executive as well as a concurrent pension from the Fairfax County police of $173000 per year.

Occupation by force

According to the most recent U.S. Census figures, nearly one in five Fairfax residents (17.5 percent) is of Asian descent while Hispanics make up nearly 16 percent of Fairfax’s overall population. Those numbers drop considerably when applied to the Fairfax County Police Department, where only 4.3 percent of officers are Asian and 4.1 percent Hispanic. White officers make up 84 percent of Fairfax County’s 1,360-member police department, significantly higher than the county’s general population (54 percent white). Almost 90% of the force lives outside the county.